Cracks that are creeping through Reality
by Crystal Rabbit
Summary: Wishing for differences in your life is no difference than playing in virtual games online, they carry no long lasting consequences that are detrimental on your life. Everyone believe in reaping in the benefit of their wishes as how can they let it go to waste but what about unchecked consequences left behind to rot and fest into something so foul and unearthly (magicastuck)


Chapter 1: Playing Gods

"As humans become aware of their own capability, they had aspired to become like the Gods. No … became Gods, themselves. The beings that they had created to beyond the expectation of humans."

People wandered through the city, ignoring each other, minding their own businesses. All lost in their own world secluded from the outside world, from playing with games on their smartphone, downloaded from the apps stores to listening to music on their wireless headphones.

A white cat had agilely moved around the moving legs of the crowd like a snake slithering through the gnarly roots of trees that had twisted around each other in densely packed tropical forest.

Not much of Mother Nature had remained untouched by human and their creations. Most of the environments on Earth had remained in separate sanctuaries to be preserved for future generation to observe.

The crowd had paid no action to the cute furry white creature below them, trying to avoid being stepped on by people who unaware of the small creature's presence; most people if they could see the furry cat, would have presumed that cute cat had to belong someone, presumably taking a walk to take a break from stress of daily life.

As it walked down, in sync with the sway of the moving crowd, passing the stores with their merchandises so glamorous to draw in the wandering eyes of the bystanders walking the glass wall and within the crowd there was the government sanctioned robots that regularly patrolled the city, on the prowl for any suspicious activities.

It had walked into a huge shopping center where stores were playing constantly loud digital music from their electronic loud speakers. People were everywhere from staring at the merchandises displaying in the window with the lamps on the ground focusing their lights on the merchandises with longing in their eyes to window-shopping, with nagging thought of how expensive it is and how they don't have enough money in their mind.

The cat had paid no attention to the constant distractions created by the stores from playing music to sending their robots to interact with the people walking near the store or glazing at the windows of the stores, asking if they need help.

The only attention that the cat had paid was to make sure that no one could step on it, which was often, as not everyone in the crowd had looked down on the ground to what they were stepping. Constantly looking down at ground wasn't much of a fascination, you were more liable of causing more accidents by bumping into strangers which even worse if they weren't much of a looker.

Without looking back it had stood still. A shadow had covered its back as the man's leg rise over its body and step in front of it, a few inches from its faces. Before resuming its journey in the huge shopping center.

The entrance into the shopping center was grand, with green, blue, pink and orange tiles that had patterned the floor.

It had took several rides on the escalators in the ascending levels of shopping center in order to reach the level, it wanted to be on while being on alert just in case there were impatient people on the steps of the escalator who were unable to wait for the ride on the escalator to come to an end. It was better to safe than sorry.

The cat had arrived at its designation, as the last ride on the escalator came to an end. As the steps edge closer to the next floor, people had started to move up even when the steps had not touched the next floor.

Most stores on this level of the shopping center were dedicated and specialized in the selling of virtual reality games and electronic devices. Crowd of both gender from different age groups were rooting through the games placed in the containers and racks in the store.

Entering one of the stores on the level, the cat had weaved its way through the ever moving legs of people in the crowds as they swamped certain areas of the stores, checking the variety of games that this store had to offer to them.

Technology had dominated all aspects of human life, as cat had briefly observed a group of people interacting with an AI from a virtually reality game, shown as a demonstration to the crowd. The improvement and usage of technology had propelled people to becoming god instead of believing in a god.

The lack of participation from and waning interest in adhering to the rules dictated by religions in the general public had caused the existing religions' influences on society to slip away from their grasp; people were under no obligation to follow them.

The cat eventually founded the target as it weaved through the legs of people crowding the store.

The cat had sat down near by as it observed the son and father who were looking together at the screen displaying short snippets of new games available, displaying the gameplay and genre of these games.

The boy had pleaded with his father to follow him through crowded store. "Come on, Dad, there is a section in the section dedicated to Sburb." As he dragged one of his father's arm to lead him to another area of the store.

They squeeze through the crowd, pushing against the people of the crowd who were pressed together to make way to the designated area of the store.

As they moved away from the row of screen displaying snippets of the latest of the newest games, the cat took this as sign to move and follow them.

Following them closely through the space paved by them through the crowd, but as quickly as they pave a path through the crowd of customers, it was quickly closed up by the people as they move back to their positions.

"This is Sburb." The boy pointed to the area of the store with merchandises from clothing to video game labeled with the trademarked logos of 'Sburb'. "Why can't you let me have a paid subscription to Sburb?" His eyes were full of sparkle and hope that his father would pay for a subscription.

His father shook his head from left to right in disagreement.

The sparkles in the boy's eyes refuse to dull as he pleaded with his father but he refuse to give up the hope in his eyes. "Come on, Dad, it doesn't have to be one of those over priced subscriptions, you can get me one of those cheap ones available."

"Sburb is a freenium, isn't it?" The father asked his son, the source of information he had about Sburb came from his son and the media in the form of commercial advertising what was the extra content that was available in the latest or next update of Sburb. "Can't you just play Sburb without paying for the subscription after all it is optional, I doubt it will affect your gaming experience in the virtual world."

The boy shook his head rapidly from left to right in disagreement. "It will. Depending on the level of subscription that I subscribe to Sburb, the functions that I get to access, as a user will differ. There are classes and locations that are only available to people who subscribe to the game."

His father quietly looked at the bent screen showing the different PCs interacting with the worlds of Sburb that was designed by the players who played in the virtual world in the latest update of Sburb, this year.

"John, your mother won't be pleased to see you spending even more time playing on Sburb." His father stared into the screen showing multiple worlds in the virtual reality of Sburb.

A sly thought seep into John's head as he advised his father. "Dad, can't you pay for the subscription without mum, knowing about this."

His father snorted, in the attempt to suppress his laughter. "As if I wanted to be killed by your mother," He looked around him to see many people around the store having the similar interests as his son namely in electronics and games. "Looking after you isn't that cheap neither is allowing you to constantly play games on the computer when you should be more focus on your studies." Pointing out that caring for his son and his son's habit of gaming on the computer had cost a lot of money.

His smile started to slip away, John looked on in concern, frowning his eyes

As his father dived deeper into his memory, his father closed and opened his eye, and said softly, "I don't want to see you injured from sending too much time in virtually reality." He repeated like a mantra. "I don't want you end like those accidents of 'The Rain of Death.'"

"Look at me, Dad, those accidents are never going to happen to me." John tugged the sleeve of his father's shirt as he looked up into his father eyes. Trying to reassure his father that type of accident could not possibly happen to him.

After few minutes later, John quietly asked his father. "Dad…. Can you paid for the subscription to Sburb… I won't spend more time on Sburb to become addicted to it." Looking with his eyes pleading to his father to give in.

His father resists his son's attempt to tempt into paying for subscription to Sburb. "I know that Sburb is a MMORPG that people play online, there are persistent worlds in there. The worlds that are continuously changing even when you aren't logged online. I don't want you to become addicted to this to see that they are the only worlds you should be concern and live for. You should be more worried about the real world than the virtual world."

John had rise one of his eyebrows in response to his dad's concern about him playing games online. " Dad, you are being too paranoid. I'm not going to become addicted to the games that I'm playing. It will never happen ever happen to me."

The cat followed the family of two as they departed from the store, the son had his shoulder slumped down, having his hope dashed by his father.

The crowd in the stores in the shopping center had started to thin out; stores were beginning to close up for the night.

The shopping center's security robots and AI had begun to patrol corridors of the building, moving pass the people still in the building.

The father had turned on his hover car in the hover car park where still a number of hover cars parked there although widely spread through this level of the car park; through a combination of identity confirmation and password along with a physical key into one of the slot in the side of the hover car.

In this future which humanity had created, cyber crime wasn't limited to affecting electronic devices, it could be used to harm or worse kill people who were in the range of these hacked electronic devices.

His father opened the door of the hover car and got in first before his son did.

The cat watched as the hover car levitated into the air with lights on back and front burning brightly and shot into spacious airspace, soon following the other beads of lights travelling pass the building against the darkness of night.

The shopping trip for the father and son had ended. The day had peacefully come to an end as the journey had ended.

But who know what tomorrow would hold. A new story that had yet to be typed up, determined by the factors of yet unknown past stories.

The cat swished its tail back and forth as it looked at the motes of light speeding pass the building.

There were so many things to do, from researching on the effect of wishes and contract to granting these wishes.

**Codex: Sburb**

It is a virtual reality MMORPG that is played by many people and is owned by a famous company.

With the progress of the technology in the future, the expectations of the people have risen. No longer do the entertainment remain on the screen of computer, instead people are dived into the game into in order to experience the world inside the game for themselves.

It is one of the popular MMORPG that is available to play on the internet, as it is a freenium, it is available for the people to play for free however the options in the game are restricted to them.

The level of subscription that is paid to Sburb, determine the level of advantage and option that is available to user.

As popular as Sburb is, it isn't perfect; there are mysterious glitches that plagued the game that company has claimed that it has looked into correcting out of the game.

**Author's note**

I'm not sure if I will write any witch or warlock that will be appearing in this fanfic. But if I do, their mental worlds will probably like Silent Hill (maybe less blood) after all we are dealing with their real persona that is unhinged, not stemmed by other factors.

I would love if the reader would give me constructive criticism on this fanfic as well the other ones on my profile.


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